The third session of the Tongan Youth Parliament began on Tuesday November 16 at the Parliament House, Nuku'alofa, and will run until November 19.

The Patron of the National Youth Congress, Princess Latufuipeka Tuku'aho officially opened the Tongan Youth Parliament for 2004, on Monday evening at the International Dateline Hotel.

During their first day when the House was in committee, members debated two motions for the establishment of a Ministry for Youth and the drafting of a National Youth Policy.

Chairman of the Youth Whole House Committee, the Youth Noble's no.1 Representative for Ha'apai, Nafetalai Tonga, said that members had researched the two motions and there was some aggressive debate.

The Youth Parliament is sponsored by the British High Commission in Nuku'alofa.

The purpose of the Youth Parliament program is to educate the youth of Tonga about Tonga...s Parliamentary system and to provide them with a forum for expressing their ideas, concerns and expectations.

Earlier this year, after a week of voting throughout the Kingdom, the youth of Tonga selected who will represent them. The elected members of the Tongan Youth Parliament for 2004 are:

This is the first time the participants of Youth Parliament have been selected by election. In previous years, preliminary workshops were held in each island group in order to select the delegates, with the top performers selected for the final Youth Parliament.